Senior ethics cop quits for ‘baffling’ behaviour
THE head of Victoria Police’s ethical standards body, Brett Guerin, has quit after being linked to racist YouTube comments and making inappropriate remarks about former colleagues.
The Assistant Commissioner and Professional Standards Command boss was stood down last week and referred to the state’s anti-corruption commission for using the alias “Vernon Demerest” to make “crude and coarse” comments about people, including former police commissioner Christine Nixon.
Mr Guerin resigned from the force on Monday night after Fairfax Media reported the racist YouTube comments made under the same name, after a character from the 1970 film Airport.
The newspaper also reported Demerest made sexually graphic comments about AFL, rugby league and cricket games and separately claimed women shouldn’t be allowed to sing the national anthem.
“The National Anthem must never be improvised. It must always be sung by a male. A baritone. And accompanied by a band. No argument. No opinion. Just fact,” Demerest wrote.
Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton told ABC Radio yesterday that Mr Guerin’s behaviour was “really baffling”.
“These views that have been expressed are out of character for Brett, the Brett that we know and work with,” Commissioner Ashton said.
“People that know him really well are really shocked by what’s there.
“I know that the people that I’ve spoken to around the force at the senior level are similarly shocked and they (the comments) in no way reflect the views held by anyone else in the senior command, I can assure you.”